Live-Blogging “The Bachelor” with John Bowe

Last night, we live-blogged an episode of “The Bachelor” with John Bowe, the editor of “Us: Americans Talk About Love,” a compilation of forty-four first-person accounts of experiences of love, including the down side: break-ups, sickness, infidelity. Bowe opens his book with the work of the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset, whose “On Love: Aspects of a Single Theme,” Bowe writes, “compares falling and staying in love to the obsessive devotion of the spiritual seeker.” Here’s Gasset: “For the lover, his beloved also possesses a constant presence.” For women seeking love on reality shows, though, the beloved is usually out on a date with someone else. Bowe, who may be this week’s most eligible literary bachelor, having opened his apartment, and his heart, to the Times’ Home section last week, helped us parse America’s most-watched valentine to romance. A transcript of our chat follows.